Shallows (Wattenmeer)

1955–1957

Severe depression and recovery with the van der Grintens

Artistic self-doubt and poverty led Beuys to a physical and psychological crisis and a period of serious depression; he recovered in Kranenburg, at the house of his most important early patrons, the van der Grinten brothers. The episode has since been called his “shamanistic initiation”.

1961

Professor of monumental sculpture in Düsseldorf

In 1961 Beuys was appointed professor of monumental sculpture at the Düsseldorf Kunstakademie; his students included Jörg Immendorff, Blinky Palermo, Sigmar Polke and Katharina Sieverding.

1964

An action in Aachen: a punch in the face

At a festival at the Technical College in Aachen that coincided with the twentieth anniversary of the attempt on Hitler's life, students interrupted Beuys's action and one of them punched him in the face; a photograph of the artist with a bloodied nose and a raised arm circulated in the media and brought him wider public attention.

26 November 1965

First solo exhibition in a private gallery

The show opened with an action involving a dead hare: Beuys, his face covered in honey and gold leaf, murmured explanations of the drawings on the walls to the animal while viewers watched through the gallery window; some critics called the photograph with the hare a new Mona Lisa of the 20th century.

August 1970

The 1970 Edinburgh Festival: “Arena” and “The Pack”

In August 1970, at the Edinburgh International Festival, Beuys, with Günther Uecker, Blinky Palermo, Robert Filliou and other Düsseldorf artists, showed the retrospective “Arena” and the installation “The Pack” and performed “Celtic Kinloch Rannoch”, using a blackboard for the first time; a year later he developed the action in Basel as “Celtic+”.

October 1972

Dismissed from the Düsseldorf Academy

Beuys abolished entry requirements to his class, and this policy caused friction; in 1972 he found 142 rejected applicants whom he wished to take on and, with 16 students, occupied the academy's offices. The relationship became irreconcilable and in October he was dismissed; he refused to accept the dismissal, which provoked a wave of protests from students, artists and critics.